


Flight

by TigStripe



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Last Jedi
Genre: F/M, Finn pilot, M/M, Multi, One Shot, Rey practice, The Force, after the last jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 06:46:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13289307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TigStripe/pseuds/TigStripe
Summary: Finn's strange obsession with Rey's use of the Force winds up with him in the med bay. Rey has to deal with her guilt, and Poe steps up to be the uniting force Leia intends him to be - at least, involving Finn and Rey.





	Flight

“Rey. Rey!”

A quiet, powerful young woman, hair pulled back, eyes closed, mind in a far off place.

“Finn. Leave her alone.”

A brave young man, dark-skinned and kind-eyed, concerned for his friends.

“But Poe, don't you want to know?”

A handsome, skilled pilot, a leader in the making, with a history of impossible decisions.

“Well, sure, but is it worth interrupting a jedi's meditation?”

Rey's eyebrow twitched.

“I just want to know. I'll leave her alone, promise.”

Rey cracked an eye and looked out over the nearby ocean. Or she would, if her view wasn't blocked by the almost-average statures of Finn and Poe, each looked down at her meditating with interest. She rolled her eyes and looked up. “Can I help you?” she asked, annoyed.

Poe nudged Finn. “Welp. You broke her concentration. How do you feel?”

“It was a group effort,” Rey muttered. Poe cleared his throat and looked away.

“Sorry, Rey,” Finn said, leaning down to sit on the stone Rey had found for her meditations, “but something's been bugging me. I just needed to ask you a question.”

Rey cleared away the irritation lingering in her chest. Finn was a friend, and was curious about something only Rey could answer. The least she could do was help. “Sure. What's up?”

Finn looked straight into Rey's eyes, his own deep, dark eyes full of concern. Rey felt her heart thump hard, wondering what could possibly be so important.

“Can jedi fly?” Finn asked.

Rey blinked, and tilted her head in confusion. “I'm sorry, what?”

Finn's face let go of its serious scrunch and Rey saw pure, unadulterated excitement take its place. “I mean, you can lift all sorts of things with the Force. Can _you_ fly?”

Rey heard Poe chuckle from near the cliff's edge. For some reason, that chuckle irritated her. She put on the best friendly smile she could and said, “No, Finn. I can't fly.” Rey pushed out the memory of Snoke lifting her effortlessly aboard the _Supremacy_. Finn didn't need to know about that, it would only make him worry.

Finn looked down, clearly disappointed. Poe walked up and clapped a hand on Finn's shoulder. “See? You wasted her meditation for that. Let's go, buddy. We've got some drilling to do.”

“Why did you want to know if I could fly?” Rey asked, suddenly interested. Her eyes fell onto Poe's hand, so casually placed on Finn's shoulder, but something about that gesture really bothered her.

Finn gave a half-hearted shrug. “Well, Poe's been teaching me the basics on piloting in z-grav, and we _did_ watch General Organa float through empty space. I just wondered if you had any experience like that, too. It was dumb. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have interrupted you for that.” Rey felt a pang of guilt as Finn moved to stand up.

“Well,” Rey said as her friends turned to leave, “it's not like I've really tried. I do know the Force can enable us to do many great things. Maybe flight is one of them.”

Finn cracked a smile, and Rey smiled back. “We'll let you get back to your meditation.”

“Thanks, Rey,” Poe added. He slung an arm around Finn's shoulder as they turned away from her. Rey felt a nagging sensation in the pit of her stomach, and she wound up standing up without really intending to.

“Wait,” Rey called. “Are you heading back to the base? I'll come too.” She waved dismissively to her meditation plot. “I've been out here for hours, anyway. I'm hungry.”

Finn looked back at her, a grin spread across her face. Poe smiled, as well. Rey grabbed her things and jogged to catch up with them, and together, they started back to the Resistance base.

 

“Keep it steady, buddy.” Poe's arms were crossed, his brow furrowed, as he watched the X-Wing bob left and right as it hovered on the runway.

Finn sounded like he was really struggling with something in the cockpit over the comms. “I'm trying!”

Poe chuckled. “Not you, Finn. Talking to BB-8. It's the one in control. You're just the one pointing the nose.”

Rey approached the tarmac, taking in the scene. “Piloting lessons?” she asked.

Poe grinned as he noticed the jedi's approach. “Hey, Rey.” At the mention of Rey's name, the X-Wing dipped hard to the left, and Poe snapped his attention back to Finn. “Hey! _Steady_. If you can't handle something like this, Finn, we'll have to go back to simulations.”

“I got this. Sorry.”

Poe rolled his eyes and turned off his communicator. He looked at Rey and sighed, a smirk on his face. “The things you do to that boy, I swear.”

“Sorry?” Rey had come to stand right next to Poe, her hands on her hips, admiring Finn's progress as a new pilot.

“And it's all subconscious,” Poe muttered, looking Rey up and down, his smirk persistent.

Rey gave Poe a tired look. “Poe, if you're going to be cryptic, I _have_ ways of getting you to be straight with me.”

Poe gave a fake gasp and placed an open palm on his chest. “You would mind trick _me_?” They both laughed.

The X-Wing finally stabilized and hovered quietly in place. Poe clapped, and Rey cheered. BB-8 set the fighter down carefully, and the cockpit cracked open. Finn waved from within and removed the pilot's helm. “Hey! I did it!” he cried, grinning.

“Sure did, bud,” Poe replied, hands on his hips. Rey walked up to the side of the X-Wing and stood there, almost like she expected him to jump out.

“Let me get the ladder,” Poe said, but Rey stopped him by raised her hand to him and shaking her head. Confused, Poe stopped.

“Hey, Finn, are you unfastened?” Rey asked.

“Yeah,” Finn replied. He stood up in the cockpit to prove it.

“Hang on,” Rey called. She stepped back and cleared her mind. She placed her hands near her hips, palms up, and concentrated.

Finn felt a strange lightness overtake him, like something was pulling him up, out of the cockpit. Rey closed her eyes to block out the visual stimuli, and Finn felt the sensation strengthen. In a moment, he was _floating_ up out of the cockpit, and over the tarmac. He looked around, slightly panicked and completely amazed, nothing beneath him holding him up. Over at the observation station, Poe stared with wide eyes, his heart racing.

“What? Rey! What?” Finn started to fidget, more out of instinct against the unknown than real panic, but he felt the lifting sensation weaken as he did.

“Finn?” Poe jogged up to Rey. “Rey, he doesn't look-”

Finn plummeted to the ground, a four-meter drop, landing with a thud on the runway.

“Finn!” Poe ran forward and collapsed next to his friend's form, who had twisted in a rather unfortunate way.

Rey's eyes snapped open and she ran up to him, as well. “Finn, I'm so sorry,” she said, her face white with fear. “Are you okay?”

“My leg,” Finn whimpered. Poe looked down the man's body, seeing his right leg bent rather crudely out of normal range. “I think it's broken.”

Poe looked up at Rey, fury creasing his brow. “What were you thinking, Rey? You're still new to this stuff. He could have seriously been hurt!” He tucked an arm under Finn's and helped him stand up. Finn babied his right leg, and the two of them started limping back to the compound. Poe shot Ray a dirty look over finn's shoulder. Rey watched them in horror, tears blurring her vision.

BB-8 rolled up from underneath the X-Wing, asking what it missed. Why was Finn limping? Poe sounded angry.

BB-8 looked up at Rey. Was she okay? She's crying.

“I'm fine,” Rey snapped. “Oh, BB-8, I messed up.”

Oh. BB-8 swiveled in place and watched the two men walk away slowly. That would explain why Finn looked hurt.

Rey decided to return to her meditations that evening. She still needed practice. She could never let her attunement with the Force ever endanger Finn or her other friends again.

 

The sound of the ocean permeated Rey's being. This planet, lush, green, untouched by the Empire or the Order, had been a boon of a find by R2-D2 during their escape from Crait. The Resistance had adopted an old Rebel base, and they had been hiding away for two weeks. Rey used the opportunity to practice her attunement with the Force, while Poe had taken to teaching Finn a few Resistance tactics and skills.

Finn, however, often reclused himself to the med bay to check on Rose, who was still comatose after her heroic stunt on Crait. Finn checked on her every morning, at lunch, and in the evening before retiring for the night, often with Poe or Rey at his side.

Rey found herself uncentered, her meditation failing. She couldn't concentrate with Finn in the med bay. _She_ had done this. Rey. The “jedi” who couldn't wait to show off for her friend.

Rey sighed.

The ocean was Rey's favorite sound, now that she was away from Jakku. She'd experienced it on the island with Luke, but now, with less drastic implications of taking time to appreciate it, Rey had really come to enjoy the sea breeze and the sounds of the waves, lapping at the rocky shores below. Meditating here was all she could do from obsessing over what she'd done to Finn, and yet somehow the thoughts still interrupted her concentration on the regular.

She heard the crunching of grass behind her, and she gave a deep breath.

“Don't worry about interrupting me,” Rey called, not looking at the approaching pilot. “I can't concentrate.”

“I wasn't worried about it,” Poe answered. He settled himself on the meditation stone next to Rey. They sat in silence, appreciating the cool, salty breeze. Finally, Poe said, “I came up here wanting to give you some words. Not very nice ones, either.”

Rey didn't reply, but her eyes failed to find anything but the stone under her legs.

“But here you are, trying to meditate. To improve yourself.” He paused for a moment. “You can't concentrate because of what you did to Finn.”

Rey blinked. “How did-”

“I wouldn't have been able to either, it was a good guess,” Poe replied. “In fact, I had to tear myself away from the med bay just to come talk to you. I didn't want to leave him.”

“It's just a broken leg,” Rey said. “I know he's important to you, but-”

“Rey, his best friend just used him like a rag doll and broke one of his limbs.” The words were quiet, but forceful, and Rey couldn't help but find herself at a loss for words. “Finn, being Finn, automatically forgave you, but I wanted to make sure he was totally okay before I left. Left him comfortable. He's in the bed next to Rose while they set his tibia. He asked for that bed, so he could watch her while he was there.”

The guilt shot Rey straight through the gut. She shook her head slowly. “I am so sorry,” she whispered.

“I know you are. And so does Finn.”

Rey lowered her head and cast her eyes to the side. “So you're here to...”

“I came to be angry,” Poe replied. “But Finn forgave you, so I have to. Now I'm here to tell you that no one blames you. That you shouldn't feel like this is some sort of sign. Meditate. Get better control.” He stood up and turned away from her. “So this never happens again.”

 

Finn was in the med bay for less than a full afternoon, with instructions to take it easy around the base for a few days. By the time Rey returned to the mess hall for dinner, Finn had already found a seat, and was awaiting Poe to bring him a tray of food.

Rey sat down across the table from him, a conservative tray of food in front of her. She offered him a leaf of lettuce, like she always did, and he accepted it with gratitude.

“Finn,” Rey started, but Finn held up a hand to silence her. He ate the lettuce in silence, and he gave her a smile. She felt the knot in her stomach loosen considerably, and she smiled back.

BB-8 rolled up to their table and asked how Finn was doing.

“He's doing fine,” Rey replied with a sad smile. “Everything's going to be okay.”

The droid whistled its gratitude and rolled off to find Poe.

“I really need to learn how to speak droid,” Finn laughed.

“You do. But we've got time, yeah?” Poe placed a healthy tray in front of Finn and sat down with his own, next to his friend. Finn scooted the bowl of pudding towards Poe, like he always did, and Poe extended a hand with some chocolate bits to Rey, just like he had always done.

Rey took the chocolate with a tentative hand, but Poe's eyes harbored no anger or disappointment. She gave him a cautious smile, and placed the chocolate on her tray for later.

Dinner was quiet. Rey still wasn't quite sure how okay it was for her to be there, and Finn seemed pretty hopped up on pain killers for the evening. Without Finn talking, Poe had little to say. Only BB-8 seemed interested in holding a conversation, but quickly gave up and rolled away for some evening maintenance.

Inwardly, Rey was grateful for the silence. It let her just _be_ , with her friends.

 

Two days later, Rey found Poe on the tarmac, with Finn and BB-8 in the X-Wing again. The fighter was stable, hovering without an issue. Rey was surprised Poe would let Finn back into the cockpit so quickly after such an event, but the bacta treatments and bone setting had done wonders for Finn's leg.

“Poe,” Rey called as she approached. He gave her a thumbs up in response, his attention still pretty taken with the task at hand.

“Okay, Finn, now easily – _easily_ – pull back on the yoke. You're going to start to tilt backwards. If you give it any throttle, it'll start moving up and forward.”

The X-Wing tilted back, not much, maybe fifteen degrees, and started to inch forward and upward.

“A little more throttle,” Poe instructed. “Don't want to stall the engine in-atmosphere. Ends up bad for all of us.”

The X-Wing sped up a little, and soon was moving at a solid speed, up and away from the compound.

“Good job. Now, just aim the fighter like we practiced, and BB-8 will make sure you don't go too fast. Take a few minutes, just _feel_ the way moving the yoke controls the fighter.” He clicked off the communicator and gave Rey a grin.

“Hey,” she said sheepishly. She saw a nearby pilot's ladder and pulled it to her side with Force. She wasn't going to make the same mistake again. She nodded to the X-Wing. “He's doing pretty well up there, yeah?”

Poe nodded and looked back up at the fighter, which was now slowly making large circles and figure eights above the compound. “He's determined to get this,” Poe said.

“Why's that?”

Poe sighed. “Well, he was a lousy Stormtrooper. Said so himself. But he has things he wants to fight for now. It's not just 'protect Rey' anymore.” That last sentence was said with a bit of mocking hand motions, and Rey laughed.

“Is that what drove him before?” Rey asked.

“Mostly, yeah.” Poe gave her a warm look over his shoulder. “He really cares about you.”

Rey smiled. “And you really care about him,” she replied.

Poe's agreement was written all over his face. “I do, I do. It's true.”

Rey playfully bumped shoulders with the pilot, although she could feel a tightness, a nervousness bubbling up with her next question. “Enough to – I don't know – take him out some time?” Rey realized her heart was beating quite quickly, despite the easygoing grin on her face.

The pilot was quiet for a moment, then answered, “To the most expensive place left in the free universe.”

There was that feeling again. It was like something had clenched itself around Rey's heart, or put a heavy stone in her stomach. Her smile faltered, but she kept it going.

“I'm...glad.” Rey was certainly _not_ glad. In fact, she wanted to throw Poe off her meditation cliff.

Poe chuckled. “No, you're not.” Rey's heart began to race even faster now. “I've seen the way you look at him. It's the same way I do.”

Rey panicked, backing away from Poe. “I, uh, don't know what you mean, Poe.”

Poe rolled his eyes. “Can we cut the crap, Rey?”

Rey stopped herself from fleeing, composed herself, and sighed. “I guess it's obvious, then,” she said.

“The only one oblivious to it is Finn.”

“He's not good at social cues, is he?”

A small laugh escaped Poe's lips. “No. No, he isn't.” The pilot turned fully to look Rey in the eye. “But listen. I'm okay with it.” He gave a tiny shrug. “So we let Finn decide. And, if he chooses me, he can choose you, too.”

The young jedi's brow furrowed in confusion. “Choose me, too? You mean-”

“I've seen how happy you make him, just being around, Rey. I would never want to take that away from him. Even if we're together, I want you there, too.”

Rey broke eye contact, looking back up at the fighter overhead. This was...enlightening. It felt good. For the first time in two days, Rey's face broke into a warm, genuine smile.

“Then it's settled,” Rey replied, looking back at Poe. “Finn doesn't get to choose between us. He gets both of us.”

“Pretty arrogant of you to think you're his only options.”

Rey spun around on one foot to see the most regal image of the Resistance standing behind them – General Leia Organa. Rey's face immediately felt hot, and Poe found himself idly scratching his head in embarrassment.

“Finn is a pure soul, and not because he can't read social cues,” Leia continued. “ _If_ he decides he wishes to be with either of you, this is fine. But are you really okay with him possibly choosing someone else to be with?”

Poe crossed his arms. He had a look of disgust on his face. “Of course,” he replied. “What kind of friends would we be if we weren't supportive of his decisions?”

“I wonder,” Leia said, her eyes lingering on Poe's. He rather hastily looked away, a little flustered.

“General,” Rey said, approaching her, “we've barely spoken since our escape. Are you okay?”

“I'm fine,” Leia said, waving a hand dismissively. “I'm more concerned about this.” She made a motion, gesturing the two of them and the fighter overhead. “Wartime is a risky time to be thinking of such things. Are you sure you're prepared for the consequences?”

BB-8 helped bring the X-Wing down, hovering gently down to the runway. The landing was perfect.

“The consequences don't matter,” Poe replied. “We both love Finn. That kind of bond can only make us fight harder, to protect each other.”

Leia smiled knowingly, and turned to retun to the compound without saying another word. Rey watched her, suspicious. That was...unusual.

Poe went to turn on the communicator, but Rey saw the color drain from his face almost immediately. He showed her his findings – the communicator was _already turned_ _on_. Rey clasped her hands over her mouth, realization striking her. Leia's gesture had not been a simple emphasis in her conversation.

The General had _turned on_ Poe's communicator with the Force.

The cockpit of the X-Wing did not crack open. The two of them sat there, watching it in horrified silence, Poe's face still reminiscent of a bedsheet.

Finally,

“Well, this is awkward. I didn't know.” More silence. “But...okay.”

Rey finally lowered her hands. “Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay. I...Poe, Rey, I...”

The cockpit opened, and Finn stood up, helmet under his arm.

“The feeling is mutual,” he called.

“That's not a confession,” Leia called from somewhere near the compound, surprising both Rey and Poe.

Finn laughed and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

Rey moved the pilot's ladder to the side of the X-Wing, and Finn found his way to the tarmac below.

“Rey, I love you,” Finn said, pulling her into a tight hug.

The warmth Rey felt was unlike anything she'd ever experienced before. For a moment, it was like the Dark Side didn't exist – she no longer sensed the constant death surrounding her, leading to rebirth, no chaos disrupting the peace; she only sensed the light, the love, the warmth of the universe.

It was a nice feeling.

They broke their hug, and Finn walked over to Poe. “And Poe, I love you,” he admitted. He hugged Poe tightly, as well, and Rey realized that she no longer felt that hard stone in her stomach, no buzzing in her head, and no clenched hand around her heart.

“Rose was right,” Finn said, a grin smeared across his face. “We'll win against the First Order by protecting what we love.”

Rey walked up to the two of them, and took one of Finn's hands. Poe took the other. And for the first time in her life, Rey felt a new sensation.

_Belonging_.

 


End file.
